A frustrated Walmart customer has revealed the latest item to be locked up on the shopfloor during the shoplifting crackdown – and it only costs $1.50.
Victoria Damor, 22, from Las Vegas, made a TikTok detailing her shocking experience at the big box retailer last month.
Her video, which she posted under her handle @toridamore, has already been seen by almost 90,000 people, who have flocked to the comments to share their outrage.
Talking to the camera, the shopper exclaimed: ‘This is the future of Walmart. I can’t even walk into Walmart and pick up a nail file worth $1.50 because it’s locked up.
‘And of course, because it’s all locked up, there’s an employee waiting there to assist everybody that needs it to be unlocked.’
Victoria Damor, 22, from Las Vegas, made a TikTok detailing her shocking experience at the big box retailer last month
Talking to the camera, the shopper exclaimed: ‘This is the future of Walmart . I can’t even walk into Walmart and pick up a nail file worth $1.50 because it’s locked up’
She panned her camera around to show her followers the glass boxes that all of the cosmetics were kept in – some had prices as low as $1,57, $4.12, and $1.68.
If customers want to purchase anything behind the glass separator, they have to alert a member of staff who will retrieve it for them.
Victoria continued: ‘And he’s being rude to the customers that need assistance because it’s locked up – like it’s an inconvenience to him.
‘Walmart, you can lock your s*** up, but it’s not the customer’s fault that you don’t stop people from stealing from you.
‘The whole time I was in the cosmetics area the employee was following me around.
‘Every time I would stop to look at something, he would say, do you need me to get that for you?
‘Like, sir, I don’t want it anymore. Like, I don’t wanna inconvenience you. Sorry, I need to shop.’
Hundreds of angered customers rushed to the comments, dubbing the security precautions a ‘nightmare’.
Pictured: One of the Walmart stores in Las Vegas, where Victoria is from
Hundreds of angered customers rushed to the comments, dubbing the security precautions a ‘nightmare’
The extreme measures big box retailers are taking come as shoplifting continues to be a major crisis in the US (Pictured: A pharmacy and convenience store in New York City)
One user questioned: ‘I moved abroad five years ago and I am SHOCKED whenever I visit the US now. What is going on???’
Another added: ‘Mine literally had someone on the register and a security guard. Like I don’t even feel comfortable to browse anymore.’
Meanwhile a third agreed: ‘This is the reason my husband and I almost always do pickup. When we go in, we never get what we need because of everything locked up.’
A fourth chimed in with: ‘Half of the time you have to wait forever to find an employee to unlock the door. One time I waited 20 minutes for 1 item that took 2 seconds to get.’
And nail files and cosmetics are not the first items to be protected against shoplifters.
Victoria’s video comes as stores have been increasingly keeping items behind lock and key due to an increase in thefts.
In January 2024, Walmart and Target began locking up underwear and socks in some locations.
Shoppers at the stores, in the Bay Area of California, reacted with surprise at the move by two of America’s biggest chains.
Just last month, another woman shopping at Walmart expressed her frustration and embarrassment about having to carry around locked items
The makeup wipes a shopper put in her cart at Walmart are encased in metal wire to prevent thefts
‘It comes to the point of how ghetto does it look that they have to lock up the socks or whatever it is that they have under the key,’ shopper Olga Leon told NBC Bay Area.
One customer wanting to buy boxer shorts waited ten minutes for a staff member to come and unlock the case containing them.
Meanwhile, a Walmart store in the Hilltop area is also locking up underwear. Staff there say they are hit by shoplifters every day.
Just last month, another woman shopping at Walmart expressed her frustration and embarrassment about having to carry around locked items.
Esme, going by username @kultruz on TikTok, said she understands if big retailers want to lock up makeup itself, which can be quite pricey – but says makeup wipes are a step too far.
The brand she was purchasing retails for just over $6 at Walmart.
‘I feel embarrassed carrying this around,’ she said, showing off the product wrapped in a metal wire.
This controversial system means that aometimes shoppers are being forced to wait as long as 40 minutes to buy basic essentials like baby formula and body wash.
Walmart is just one of the major retailers that has imposed new methods for countering soaring rates of theft, including locking up basic essentials
At a Walmart in New Jersey, a manager was forced to apologize after a 15-minute delay to buy baby formula
Reporters from Inside Edition visited five Targets, five Walmarts, and five CVS stores in New York and New Jersey and timed how long it took for employees to retrieve different products from glass casings.
During the experiment, a manager was forced to apologize after a 15-minute delay to buy baby formula.
The extreme measures big box retailers are taking come as shoplifting continues to be a major crisis in the US.
And it’s worse in America’s two largest cities, as thefts increased 64 percent in New York City and 61 percent in Los Angeles over the last four years.
The Council on Criminal Justice said that, while shoplifts have gone down slightly in New York through the first half of 2023, the rate remains high with over 90,000 incidents through November 5 2023 according to the city’s crime stats.
Los Angeles, on the other hand, remains a mess, with a shocking 109 percent increase in retail theft through the first six months of last year, the highest rise in the country.
The National Retail Federation reported that both internal and external theft makes up an average of 65% losses for retailers and retail crime is impacting the industry at ‘unprecedented levels’.
In 2022, US retailers lost $112.1 billion, up from the losses of $93.9 billion in 2021, according to the NRF data.
Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon, told The Street: ‘We do think that in some jurisdictions here in the U.S., there needs to be action taken to help protect people from crime, including theft.’
